Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is the Chinese festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar. The festival is usually referred to as the Spring Festival in mainland China, and is one of several Lunar New Years in Asia.
Celebrations traditionally take place from the evening before the first day of the year to the Lantern Festival (Lantern Festival is on the 15th day of the year). The first day of Chinese New Year begins on the new moon that appears between 21 January and 20 February. In 2019, the first day of the Chinese New Year was on Tuesday, 5 February, and it started the Year of the Pig.
Chinese New Year is an enourmous holiday in Greater China and has strongly influenced lunar new year celebrations of China’s neighbouring cultures, including the Korean New Year (seol), the Tết of Vietnam, and the Losar of Tibet. It is also celebrated worldwide in regions and countries with significant Overseas Chinese populations, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Mauritius, as well as many in North America and Europe.
Chinese New Year is associated with several myths and customs. The festival was traditionally a time to honour ancestors. Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the New Year differ widely, and the evening before Chinese New Year’s Day is generally an event for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly clean their house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for incoming good luck. Another custom is the decoration of windows and doors with red paper-cuts and two-line poems. Popular themes among these paper-cuts and two-line poems include that of good fortune or happiness and wealth. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes. For the northern regions of China, dumplings are featured prominently in meals celebrating the festival. It often serves as the first meal of the year.